Immigration reform advocates rejoiced in June 2012 when President Obama announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program providing temporary deportation relief for undocumented individuals that came to the United States as children.
Conservative Republicans and numerous anti-amnesty groups argued DACA would become a burden on tax paying Americans, both financially and in the job market. Proponents of the Obama administration's program worried undocumented immigrants wouldn't sign up in fear that revealing personal information would lead to deportations.
Three years later, neither fear has come to pass; DACA application fees have actually generated $422.4 million, according to an Orange County Register report. Of the 664,607 individuals initially accepted into the program, 243,872 - or 37 percent - have renewed their status.
Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, a similar program aimed at protecting undocumented parents, was announced last November but faces multiple lawsuits from states claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The report coincides with a Center for American Progress study released this month breaking down benefits and drawbacks in each state. By the nonpartisan policy institute's estimate, Deferred Action programs will grow the U.S. economy by $230 million and 300,000 jobs over the next 10 years. California would see a cumulative gross domestic product income increase of $75.8 billion in that span while Texas will gain $38.3 billion, among 37 states studied.
Economic benefits vary by state depending on the size of the eligible population, but states like Arizona would still garner $6.2 billion and 780 new jobs over the decade.
Still, GOP lawmakers aren't entirely convinced income created by DACA and DAPA outweighs their shortcomings.
"It's probably only generating enough money to keep itself sustained," said Bob Kowell, president of the Murrieta and Temecula Republican Assembly, in speaking with the Register. "Those fees don't really go to anything buy paying people's salaries who work for the government."
Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman Ira Mehlman adds that $230 billion stretched out over 10 years doesn't amount to much. "That's $23 billion a year in a $17 trillion economy," Mehlman told Cronkite News. "Statistically, it adds nothing."
DAPA implementation and DACA expansions are on hold until the temporary injunction placed last February is lifted. The Obama administration's appeal was turned down by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month.
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